John Hafen

A meticulously researched, comprehensive biography showcasing the work of Utah artist John Hafen, including over 200 images of the artist's work, along with 50+ photos and historical clippings.

A meticulously researched, comprehensive biography showcasing the work of Utah artist John Hafen, including over 200 images of the artist's work, along with 50+ photos and historical clippings.

John Hafen (1856-1910) was a Mormon artist in a philosophical and evangelical sense; he was not a painter of Christian and Latter-day Saint genre, themes, or content. He was not a painter of a vision of his own day and age, but rather he searched for the universal and eternal beauty underlying rural nature. While he vigorously eschewed commercialism in art, because of dire poverty and large family he was continually "forced" to paint easy and quick pictures for trade just to get by from day to day. But taken all together, he was the clearest voice of the aesthetic conscience of Utah art. His capa d'opera was the equal of the best Utah artists and fares well nationally. He founded the Springville Museum of Art in 1903.